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The Duchess's Glorious Book

By

Karen Wilkin

Updated Feb. 16, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

New York

Catherine of Cleves, duchess of Guelders and countess of Zutphen (1417-1476), ought to be celebrated by feminists everywhere for her independent mind and rebellion against her assigned role. Forced at 13 into a political marriage with 20-year-old Arnold of Egmond, an ineffectual ruler whom she grew to dislike intensely, Catherine left her husband in 1440, when she was 23, after bearing him six children. Years of internecine battles followed. Arnold was eventually imprisoned and ceded his throne to Adolph, his...